Three times a runner-up on the Australasian tour, Barron faced the most difficult conditions of the tournament with strong gusts proving challenging as he fired his way around Cobram Barooga Golf Club’s Old Course on Sunday afternoon.
Plenty of low numbers had littered the score sheets across the first three days of competition; however, a two-under-par 69 in the final round was all that was needed for the Perth native to claim his first win since turning professional four years ago, finishing the tournament at 22-under-par to win by one shot from New Zealand’s Jimmy Zheng, who closed with a brilliant six-under-par 65 to shoot -21 for the tournament.
Australian duo James Marchesani and Declan O’Donovan shared third spot, two shots behind Zheng, having each carded -19.
While Barron’s final putt, a straightforward 90cm tap-in, may have looked regulation for someone of his calibre, knowing that was all that separated him from a maiden win made for a nervy stroke.
“I kind of just tried to look up at the hole, look back down my putter and just take it away and I just saw the putter head shake side to side,” Barron told Golf.com.au.
“It's funny, I've had that a few times. Getting through Q school, I had that as well and somehow always seemed to manage to find the middle. It was just looking longer and longer.”
Entering the final round with a one-shot lead over O’Donovan, Barron endured a horror start on Sunday, bogeying the second and third holes as Zheng birdied five of his first seven, storming into the outright lead as the wind whipped up.
Birdies on holes six and eight left Barron at even par for the round as the final group made the turn, before a chip-in on the 10th and a long-range birdie putt on the 14th wrested back the lead, one that he wouldn’t relinquish.
With top-five finishes in two of his past three starts prior to the weekend, as well as a tied-fourth finish at the Queensland PGA Championship last November, Barron said he felt his game was trending in the right direction, and knew a win wasn’t far away.
“I think I've been going well all year really,” he said.
“I've been up there with plenty of top five and top tens and just kind of really feel like I was ready to elevate myself to I guess the winner’s circle. I'm just so happy with it.”
Barron wasn’t the only winner on the day, however, with PGA associate Tom Ryan carding a three-under-par total across two rounds to take out the All Abilities competition for a second consecutive year, while 13-year-old Fuyu Yang took out the junior event with a -1 total across 36 holes to win by four shots.
There was success for a local golfer, too, with Cobram Barooga’s own Jordan Bovalina taking out the Australian Long Drive Series event, blasting a mammoth 345.9m bomb off the tee with his fourth attempt to claim the win, having previously finished runner-up on multiple occasions.
“I've been runner-up a couple times so it’s nice to get a victory here at home,” he told Golf.com.au.
“It’s been up there as the number one that I wanted to get and it's cool to get there.”
Bovalina now sits atop the Australian Long Drive Order of Merit standings with one round remaining, with a ticket to the World Long Drive championships in the United States up for grabs.
